Wednesday, September 27, 2006

We couldn't care less

Ok - so last days till the election and it is not really the main subject on conversations. At least not for me. I'm more worried about the next Liverpool starting line-up.

I wouldn't say the election doesn't worry me - maybe I'm just resigned to watch the favourites win and everyone else around me is as well. Even in my favorite news websites election news less flashy than, say, Uefa Champions League, Daniella Cicarelli, stock markets, and the usual crime stuff.

Also noticeable is that there have been more news about the "scandal" about buying information on one candidate - one candidate from one state! - than the candidates' proposals. Probably because most candidates don't have concrete proposals... Even Alckmin doesn't have a proper economic plan, I read the other day. I guess candidates realized that people won't ask them about plans - even after they win! As much commonplace as it is, election time is all about the best-dressed, the nicest first-lady, hugging the kids and tra-la-la.

It makes me think of another thing I read - that the media these days are more busy trying to create and praise the so-called "celebrities" rather than actually confront and discuss issues that actually matter to the people. But then again, if the people couldn't care less about what supposedly matters to them, and just wanna be fed with sports digests and celeb gossip, let's give them bread and circus! Who cares if GDP doesn't grow? I mean, what is GDP again?

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into "Raízes do Brasil". I have been convinced that the damage done by our Portuguese colonization cannot be fixed and we're all damned to be lazy bastards. Myself included.

Let's just pray for the best.
(yet another typically Sebastianistic-Catholic-Portuguese catchphrase).

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Raízes do Brasil

Resolvi usar melhor meu tempo acordado em aviões (porque, na maioria das vezes, durmo mesmo) para ler livros, ao invés das revistas que, ultimamente, só me trazem informação inútil.

Comecei meio audacioso - peguei emprestado "Raízes do Brasil" do meu irmão. Não, o meu irmão não escreveu esse livro, é claro que estou falando do clássico da sociologia que Sérgio Buarque de Holanda (vulgo pai do Chico) escreveu em 1936. Para minha surpresa, encontrei um livro interessante de ler, que reserva momentos "ah é..." em cada página, e que ajuda a entender porque os brasileiros são assim, desse jeito, malandros, bon-vivants, misturados racialmente e por aí afora. O livro intimida um pouco com algumas palavras difíceis, mas em vários parágrafos é solto, proseado, factual, e a cada virada de página há uma explicação reveladora.

o mais legal é que, nesses 70 anos desde que o livro foi escrito, pouca coisa mudou - o brasileiro continua assim, malandro, celebrado inclusive em uma peça de teatro do Chico. Ou seja, Sérgio identificou algo que era verdade, e provavelmente explicou isso usando as causas certas.

Recomendo.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

The new Brazil

January 2005 I bought my first FourFourTwo magazine in a newsstand in Orchard Road, Singapore - a yellow cover written "The New Brazil - Meet Kaka, Robinho, Adriano and six other reasons to get you excited"

Apart from the dubious homosexuality in the headline, the magazine displayed a magnificent 15-page report that told details of these players that I myself didn't know. Apart from those three, they also profiled Juan, Julio Baptista, Elano, Renato, Diego, Luis Fabiano. The first three have since become regulars in the national team, while the latter, from whom maybe more was expected, have wandered in a bit of obscurity and sub-utilization by their teams.

Between that month and now, more young promises arose - Daniel Carvalho, Fred, Nilmar being the most well-known. In spite of that, the status of "unbeatable" achieved by the first team made it difficult for these oyoung talents to come to sight within time of the World Cup. So we ended up with a kind of highbrow team that failed to deliver, maybe because eberyone there was in a comfort zone and did not feel the pressure to deliver their best.

Given all that, I got extremely pleased by the national team's performance this afternoon against Argentina. For a lot of reasons - Usage of young players, defined tactics, freedom given to Robinho's creativity, and some more which I will not write now.

Suffice it to say I always dreamed of watching Brazil play two lines of four, British style. Elano is perfect for right-midfield, and Robinho as an in-and-out second striker is brilliant. Fred is also sniffing the goal in a more lethal fashion than his lurky predecessors, Ronaldo and Adriano. I wonder if we played Gilberto and maybe Renato in central midfield, Kaka on the right, Robinho on the left, ROnaldinho as in-and-out striker, and Adriano slotting home, if anyone's to stop us.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

What I'm listening to

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" Gil-Scott Heron

Excellent lyrics in this rap-meets-blues-meets-jazz 1970 album which is so up-to-date still today. Gil was clearly ahead of its time and influenced none less than Grandmaster Flash to turn hip-hop into a whole new music genre.

Though Gil's social criticism is as fiery as Flash's or even Public Enemy's - for instance, he complains about not affording a doctor while the government spends money to put a "whitey on the moon", and mentions racist behavior in several ocasion - his musicality is filled with subtlety and smoothness. Many of the tracks are followed by only a flute and some drums, sounding a bit like bossa nova at times.

My tag: Essential.

"Under The Iron Sea" Keane
Quality pop for bitter hearts that is perfect soundtrack for driving, flying, or working. The pianos and desperate vocals from the excellent previous album are still here, but now joined by stronger drums and more distorted guitars - Keane goes hard rock.

I was kind of disappointed by Coldplay's sequel to "A Rush of Blood..." and then was wary Keane couldn't match their masterpiece either. Guess what, they've done it.

My tag: Enjoyable.

"At War With The Mystics" - The Flaming Lips

Months after having bought this, I now fully comprehend the message here. I was looking for existentialist questions such as in "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" but this is a Michael Moore-style album. Half the songs have some reference to George W. Bush in a sense, and when you figure that out you think the other half also means something political.

A bit more experimental in guitars than the previous album, "Mystics" can frigthen at a first hearing for its awkwardness - but then you realize that every beat, every distortion is meant to put the listener in an agitated state of mind, one which incitates action. These days, after listening to the chorus in "The Wand" and "Haven't got a clue" I suddenly felt like joining a Greenpeace parade. "Every time you state your case the more I want to punch your face..."

My tag: Real life.